Blog

May 2017 - The calm before the storm?

Details

Published: 16 May 2017

Hits: 464

The UK’s leading retirement property specialist releases its latest quarterly review of the UK market and beyond.

The review highlights retirement property enquiries on the up, with a 17% increase in new registrations for the first quarter of 2017 compared to the same period last year, showing a resilient ‘bounce’ after a quiet final quarter of 2016.

However, as we all eagerly wait to see what happens here in the UK- particularly with the snap election now on the table for June - and we know that the property market doesn’t like uncertainty - this quarter’s edition looks at retirement living in other parts of the world. An aging demographic is common in many countries but the approaches to retirement are not. Maybe we, in the UK, can take some ideas from neighbours near and far.

Nick Freeth, Retirement Homesearch Managing Director, said:

“Approaches to retirement living vary significantly around the world. Whether this is Spain’s older population whose tradition is to stay at home with family, or Australia’s, who are so accustomed to apartment living that their market is seeing a demand in high rise retirement blocks.

“One common theme that runs throughout is the need for retirement markets around the world to respond to changing demographics. Here in the UK, the supply of retirement housing needs to increase five-fold to match the aging and growing population. We’re calling for Government to react by going further to incentivise developers to build these much-needed homes and to incentivise last-time buyers by making downsizing more attractive, through options like stamp duty holidays and a smoother buying process.”